Finally got a chance to try out the FAB Overdrive that I picked up for 15 bucks at a Guitar Center over the holidays. Setup: my MIJ '69-reissue Pink Paisley Tele to the pedal to my stock Pro Junior amp.

First, believe the little instruction booklet warning to make sure the level is set at no more than 25% when you turn it on -- this is, as noted, a HIGH GAIN pedal. Out of the box, all three knobs were set at 50%, the lines on the knobs facing up.

All that is on the top of the pedal are blue light to show when it's on and the activation "button" that you step on. The knobs are placed on the back side of the pedal, right above where the cables are plugged in, not the top. They face away from you and to adjust them the right way, you have to remember if you are looking down on them as they point away from you, that you must rotate them counterclockwise -- or you can pick it up and face that side of the pedal toward you and and turn them clockwise. Awkward.

A little goes a long way with both the level and the OD knobs. I certainly didn't need to go any higher than a quarter turn on the level, and the OD dirties it up fast, too. As the distortion goes up, it doesn't exactly muddy up, but does seem to blend notes of chords more. It also makes the tone more "solid state" -- increasingly brittle and harsh. While the Pro Jr. and the Tele get along well and give that nice Tele twang some punch, add in the FAB OD and what I got was a definite shift to a "quack" from the single coils. More pronounced if the pedal's tone is set toward the high side, but still there when tone is lowered or the neck PU is in play rather than the hotter bridge PU.

Doesn't seem to add any extra noise to the signal when inserted into the path.

I didn't have a long time to fiddle with it, but initial reaction is "less than impressed" other than the fact that it can definitely help you punch through if you need to give your amp a boost. Of course it might hurt someone or something.

I have two of the Dano FAB Tones. I found out about them from Rick Derringer, who was using them at the time. They are very sensitive thats for sure. I set the volume to the proper level with the FAB turned all the way off, tone set about 7. I have alot of pedals but thats the only one that I can use as a stand alone kind of thing (using only one pedal). Mine works very well and has great tone. They're getting kinda hard to find. Everybody seems to keep 'em once they get one.

Tommy

[www.tommystriplethreatbluesrevue.com/BandPage.html]

"A strat, a cord, and an amp set to 10 is all I really need. Nothing sounds better than a tortured stratocaster....."

I have several of the small Dano pedals, the ones with the funny food names, and they have been generally very good (reverb, trem, vibrato) to acceptable (compressor, octave OD)in performance. The price on these new FAB pedals is so low that they are worth experimenting with, and I will have to A/B the FAB OD with my DOD Mystic Blues OD pedal to get a clearer picture of its performance. One sure thing, I can't imagine what the FAB Metal pedal must sound like if it puts out any more gain than the OD.